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Health officials say synthetic marijuana has been linked to kidney damage in some teens and young adults.

Sixteen people who smoked synthetic marijuana were hospitalized with kidney problems last year in six states. All recovered, but five of them needed dialysis.

Synthetic marijuana is plant material sprayed with chemicals that can mimic the high from marijuana. It's been tied to such health problems as a rapid heartbeat and seizures. This is the first report of kidney problems.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's not known exactly what caused the kidney damage.

U.S. shark attacks most since 2000

Scholars say shark attacks in the U.S. reached their highest level in a decade last year.

The University of Florida's International Shark Attack File released this week shows the U.S. experienced 53 attacks in 2012, the most since 2000.

Florida led with 26 attacks. Hawaii had 10 attacks, followed by California and South Carolina with five each, North Carolina with two and one each in Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Puerto Rico. One attack in California was fatal.

The report says there were seven fatalities worldwide, which is lower than 2011 but higher than the yearly average of 4.4 from 2001 to 2010.

UK's Antarctic base can slide across ice

British researchers have unveiled a futuristic Antarctic research base that can move, sliding across the frozen surface to beat the shifting ice and pounding snow that doomed its predecessors.

The British Antarctic Survey said the Halley VI Research Station is the sixth facility to occupy the site on the Brunt Ice Shelf - a floating sheet of ice about 10 miles from the edge of the South Atlantic.

Halley VI is composed of a series of four-legged modules linked by enclosed walkways. Triple-glazed windows help trap heat, a vacuum drainage system keeps water consumption down, and the ski-clad stilts keep the units about 13 feet above the level of the ice. If the station needs to be moved, the modules are disconnected and towed to a new site.

Cold-water corals won't make list

A petition seeking to list Alaska's cold-water corals as endangered or threatened does not contain enough information to make the case, a federal agency said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Tuesday it had rejected the petition submitted in August by the Center for Biological Diversity, which sought a formal endangered species review for 44 cold-water corals because of threats from fishing trawlers, ocean warming, ocean acidification, shipping and oil spills.

"The study of deep-sea corals in Alaska is a new science," NMFS Alaska spokeswoman Julie Speegle said.

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